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Reproducing apparatus and file information display method

Reproducing apparatus and file information display method description/claims

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a reproducing apparatus and a file information display method.

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, along with increasing capacities of randomly accessible storage media, such as memory cards, digital versatile discs (DVDs), and hard disk drives (HDDs), these storage media are now widely used as recording media to store image data. A distinctive feature of these randomly accessible storage media is to provide a user easy access to image files.

Taking advantage of the accessibility to image files, display methods for listing and displaying files stored in recording media and searching for a target file have been widely employed. Further, techniques for improving the operability of these methods have been proposed.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-124353 discusses a method in which, in listing and displaying representative images and content information of image files stored in a recording medium, a user can set optional information, such as title information, in addition to information on shooting date and time, a file capacity, or the like, which is significant for searching.

As discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-124353, to search image files stored in a recording medium, it is important to display the optimum content information for searching. However, the optimum content information for searching varies depending on purposes of the searching. For example, if a user wishes to search for a file to be reproduced, information about shooting title and shooting date is significant. If a user wishes to search for a file to be transferred, information about transfer time and file capacity is significant.

In order to address these various searching purposes, it is required to display a larger number of content information (file information). However, on the other hand, in displaying a list of files, it is important to display a larger number of files on a screen for viewing. Thus, a volume of information that can be displayed on one screen may be limited.

The present invention is directed to a reproducing apparatus that can display file information suitable for purposes.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a reproducing apparatus includes a reproduction unit configured to reproduce a file recorded on a storage medium, a transfer unit configured to transfer a file recorded on the storage medium to an external device, an external device connection detection unit configured to detect a connection with the external device, and a display processing unit configured to display file information about the file in a first display style if a connection with the external device is detected by the external device connection detection unit and to display file information about the file in a second display style if a connection with the external device is not detected by the external device connection detection unit.

Further features and aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments, features, and aspects of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating essential parts in a hardware configuration of a reproducing apparatus according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary display process performed by a display processing unit according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are views illustrating exemplary displays according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating essential parts in a hardware configuration of a reproducing apparatus according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary display process performed by a display processing unit according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

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